GB2354085A

GB2354085A - Clutch Mechanism with Operating Motor for a Lens Barrel

Info

Publication number: GB2354085A
Application number: GB0021314A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Atsushi Kanayama; Keiji Kaneko; Minoru Tanaka
Original assignee: Fuji Photo Optical Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fujinon Corp
Priority date: 1999-09-07
Filing date: 2000-08-30
Publication date: 2001-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2020-08-30
Also published as: GB0021314D0; US6285511B1; GB2354085B; DE10043924A1; FR2798745A1; FR2798745B1; DE10043924B4

Abstract

A manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel 10 has a barrel which holds a movable lens and a lens-operating ring 14 set to the periphery of the lens barrel 10 to manually move the lens. The lens operating ring 14 can form external teeth 15 for engaging with a transmission gear for transmitting the rotation of an electric motor 40. The electric motor 40 is provided for automatically moving the lens. A clutch mechanism for connecting or disconnecting the electric motor 40 with or from the lens-operating is also included and is operated by a clutch-operating motor 42 for connecting or disconnecting the clutch mechanism. The clutch motor 42 can be driven in accordance with an operation control signal output from an automatic operation switch. In another embodiment an automatic automation switch automatically drives the lens-operating ring though the clutch mechanism and sets a lens-operating ring driving speed. In a further embodiment torque control means changes connection forces of the clutch mechanism in accordance with the driving speed set by the automatic operation switch to control the lens-operating ring operation torque so that the torque decreases as the driving speed lowers. In a further embodiment a clutch control means changes friction-face pressures of the clutch mechanism correspondingly to a temperature detected by a temperature sensor to secure stable rotation of the lens-operating ring.

Description

2354085 1 MANUAL AND AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR LENS BARREL 2 3 4 6 The

present invention relates to a manual and automatic 7 apparatus for a lens barrel configured so that zooming and 8 f ocusing operations of a lens can be changed without changing 9 manual and automatic operations.

11 12 According to the prior art, a lens barrel for use in

13 photographic cameras or television cameras is provided with 14 a focusing lens for focusing and/or a zoom lens for varying the rate of magnification, and permits switching between manual 16. and electric (automatic) operation modes (e. g. Japanese Patent 17 Laid-Open No. 02285311A.).

18 FIGS. 15(A) and 15(B) Illustrate an example of 19 conf igurati-on concerning zoom driving in a conventional lens barrel. In FIG. 15 (B), the lef t side of a barrel 1 in the drawing 21 is its front side, and the barrel 1 is provided with a zooming 22 ring 3 which is rotatable relative to a body ring 2. Thiszooming 23 ring 3 is configured to be movable a zoom lens in the direction 24 of the optical axis by its internal mechanism. Also, on the circumference of this zooming ring 3 are formed external gear 1 4, and to the body ring 2 are fitted a switching gear 6 and 2 a shaf t 6A via a bearing member 5, the shaf t 6A being separately 3 formed from the switching gear 6, which pivots on the shaft 4 6A movably in the axial direction and rotatably.

The above mentioned switching gear 6 has, as illustrated, 6 a first toothed wheel 6B engaging with the shaft gear 8 of 7 a zoom motor 7, and a second tooth wheel 6C moving forward 8 to engage with the external gear 4 of the above mentioned zooming 9 ring 3. Furthermore, a switching knob 9 is provided to switch between manual and electric operating modes by a rotational 11 action, and a drive pin 9P, fitted to the underside disk of 12 this switching knob 9, is arranged in a concave portion between 13 the above mentioned first toothed wheel 6B and second toothed 14 wheel 6C.

In the above mentioned configuration, when the switching 16 knob 9 is turned into the position of FIG. 15 (A), the mechanism 17 is set for manual operation, and the switching gear 6 moves 18 backward to disengage from the external gear 4 of the zooming 19 ring 3. In this state, therefore, the zooming ring 3 can be manually turned, and this turning drives the zoom lens to a 21 desired rate of magnification.

22 On the other hand, as the switching knob 9 is turned 23 clockwise from the state of FIG. 15 (A), the mechanism is switched 24 to electric (automatic) operation - This switching knob 9, by 25 the turning of its drive pin 9P to the position of the chain 1 line in the drawing, moves the switching gear 6 forward, and 2 engages the second toothed wheel 6C with the above mentioned 3 external gear 4. At this time, the other first toothed wheel 4 6B does not disengage from the shaft gear 8 of the zoom motor 5 7. Therefore, when in electric operation, pressing a zooming 6 switch (not shown) turns the zoom motor 7, and this in turn 7 causes the zooming ring 3 to be rotated via the switching gear 8 6, with the result that the zoom lens is enabled to be driven 9 in a prescribed direction.

However, the above mentioned lens barrel, which can be 11 switched between manual and automatic operation modes, requires 12 a manual switching action to turn the switching knob 9 as stated 13 above, and this action is troublesome. Moreover, this 14 switching action may prevent, for instance, quick focusing 15 on the object to deprive the photographer of a good shooting 16 opportunity.

17 Also, since the optimal level of heaviness (operation 18 torque) of manipulating the zooming ring 3 as described above 19 may vary with the manual power or preferenceof the photographer, making it variable as desired would improve the handling case 21 of the camera.

22 23 24 1 The present invention is made to solve the above problems 2 and its object is to provide a manual and automatic apparatus 3 f or a lens barrel not requiring the change of manual and automatic 4 operations and making it possible to quickly adjust conditions for an object and perform a preferable operation in accordance 6 with a photographing state, a change of environments or the 7 like.

8 9 To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a lens barrel f or holding a lens so as to be movable, 11 a lens-operating ring (manual-operation ring) set to the 12 periphery of the lens barrel so as to be rotatable to manually 13 move the lens, an electric motor for automatically moving the 14 lens, a clutch mechanism f or connecting or disconnecting the 15 electric motor with or from the lens-operating ring, and a 16 clutch-operating motor for connecting or disconnecting the 17 clutch mechanism.

18 In the above case, the electric motor is operated by an 19 automatic-operation switch, and the clutch mechanism is connected when an operation control signal is output from the 21 automatic-operation switch but it is disconnected when the 22 signal is not output from the switch.

23 Moreover, the clutch mechanism can include a gear-moving 24 plate (clutch plate) to be moved by the clutch - operat Ing motor in the axis direction andhaving a gear function anda gear-f ixing 1 plate (clutch plate) to be connected with the gear-moving plate 2 and having a gear function, one of gears being connected to 3 the electric- motor side and the other of the gears being 4 connected to the external teeth of the lens-operating ring; 5 and there is provided a disconnection- time rotation mechanism 6 that allows a gear connected to the external teeth of the 7 lens-operating ring to become rotatable when the clutch 8 mechanism is disconnected.

9 The above mentioned configuration, in which the clutch mechanism is disconnected during manually operation, can drive 11 the zoom lens and the f ocusing lens by turning the lens operating 12 ring. In that state, the gear moving (or fixing) plate 13 connected to the external gear of the lens operating ring is 14 allowed by the revolving -while - declutched mechanism to turn 15 freely, and accordingly imposes no operational load on the 16 lens operating ring. On the other hand, when the electric 17 operation switch f or zooming and focusing is pressed, the clutch 18 operating motor actuates the clutch mechanism and causes the 19 gear moving plate to be connected to the gear fixing plate, 20 so that revolutions by the electric motor are transmitted to 21 the lens operating ring via a gear train and a prescribed lens 22 is thereby driven. If, then, the electric operation switch 23 is released, the connection of the clutch mechanism is released 24 to place the apparatus in a state of standby by for manual 25 operation.

1 Moreover, the apparatus not requiring the change of manual 2 and automatic operations has the following problems. That is, 3 firstly, if an operator erroneously touches the 4 automatic-operation switch (zoom seesaw) under manual operation, a zoom lens unexpectedly moves. In this case, the 6 operability of the apparatus deteriorates because only manual 7 operation is performed but automatic operation may be 8 unnecessary in photographing by a camera.

9 Secondly, when a lens can be quickly manually moved in the same or opposite direction while automatically and slowly 11 operating the zoom seesaw by slightly pushing the zoom seesaw, 12 quick camera work not missing a photographing opportunity may 13 be realized. However, because the clutch mechanism is 14 comparatively strongly connectedwhen operating the zoom seesaw, the lens-operating ring is very heavy and thereby, it is 16 difficult to manually move the ring.

17 In general, to change automatic operation to manual 18 operation, the operation of a zoom seesaw is stopped and then, 19 a lens-operating ring is operated. In this case, no major problems arise, but to perform photographing again at a speed 21 at which slow zooming with a small push-in value (depth) of 22 the zoom seesaw is perf ormed (f or example, a case of returning 23 a zoom lens which has been moved from wide angle direction 24 to telescopic direction to the wide angle direction and moving it in the telescopic direction again), it is effective to 7 1 manually operate a lens-operatIng ring during automatic 2 operation.

3 That is, if an operator once separates his hand f rom the 4 zoom seesaw or performs zooming in the opposite direction, it is necessary to set the zoom- seesaw push- in value equivalent 6 to the slow zooming rate previously used again. This operation 7 is complex. Therefore, a zoom seesaw moving from wide angle 8 to telescopic directions which can be once returned to the 9 wide angle direction is desired. Moreover, the same is true for a zoom seesaw having a constant-speed zooming function 11 -of storing a zoom-seesaw push-in value and constantly 12 performing zooming at the speed equivalent to the stored value 13 (e.g. official gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.

14 11-101932).

Thirdly, because the clutch mechanism or a mechanism f or 16 moving a lens by the lens-operating ring is set so that the 17 mechanism is brought into an optimum state at ordinary 18 temperature, the manual operation torque increases or automatic 19 rotational speed lowers, f or example, when the mechanism is 20 used in a low-temperature environment. Particularly, grease 21 is applied to a mechanical movable portion and the change of 22 viscosities of the grease mainly causes the above trouble. 23 Thus, stable manipulation or operation cannot be secured at 24 a temperature greatly different from ordinary temperature.

8 1 Theref ore, to solve the above f irst problem, another aspect 2 of the present invention is provided with the above lens barrel, 3 lens-operating ring, and electric motor and further provided 4 with automatic manual-and-automatic (electric motor) -operation change means f or connecting or disconnecting 6 the clutch mechanism by making the connection or disconnection 7 of the clutch mechanism interlock with the operation of an 8 automatic operation switch and a mode change switch f or changing 9 an automatic manual - and- automatic -operation change mode for operating the automatic manual-and-automatic-operation 11 change means and a manual operation (single) mode for enabling 12 only manual operation by disconnecting the clutch mechanism.

13 According to another invention, by pressing an automatic 14 zooming or focusing switch when setting an automatic manual-and-automatic-operation change mode, a clutch 16 mechanism is connected by a clutch- operating motor. Therefore, 17 rotation of an electric motor is transmitted to a lens - operating 18 ring through a gear train and thereby, a predetermined lens 19 is driven. Thereafter, when the automatic operation switch is released, connection of the clutch mechanism is canceled 21 and manual operation is ready.

22 However, when changing the mode to a manual operation mode 23 by the mode change switch, the clutch mechanism is always set 24 to a disconnected state. Therefore, even if the automatic operation switch is pressed, the lens-operating ring does not 9 1 move. Therefore, it is possible to stably control zooming and 2 focusing through only manual operation.

3 Moreover, according to the operation- torque change means, 4 the pressure on the friction f ace of the disconnected clutch mechanism is set to an optional value designated by an adjusting 6 dial and the load due to pressing of the f riction f acels supplied 7 as the operation torque (weight under operation) of the 8 lens-operating ring. Thereby, an operator can freely perf orm 9 manual operation at the set operation torque.

To solve the above second problem, another aspect of the 11 present invention comprises not only the above lens barrel, 12 lens-operating ring, and electric motor but also a clutch 13 mechanism for connecting or disconnedting the electric motor 14 with and from the lens-operating ring, an automatic operation 15 switch for automatically driving the lens-operating ring 16 through the clutch mechanism and setting the driving speed, 17 and torque control means for changing connection forces 18 (f rIction-f ace pressures) of the clutchmechanism in accordance 19 with the driving speed set by the automatic operation switch 20 and controlling the operation torque of the lens-operating 21 ring (when clutch mechanism is connected) so as to decrease 22 as the driving speed lowers.

23 According to the torque control means of the above another 24 aspect of the present invention, a clutch position (connection position) is set to P, correspondingly to a depth- directional 1 control input (pressed distance) of the automatic operation 2 switch that is, correspondingly to the driving speed when the 3 control input (or driving speed) is less than 60% of the maximum 4 control input, set to P2 (Pl<P2) when the control input ranges between 60 and 80% of the maximum control input, and set to 6 PON (completely- connected clutch position) when the control 7 input exceeds 80% of the maximum control input. In this case, 8 an operation torque of the lens-operating ring (weight under 9 operation) added by the clutch mechanism increases stepwise in order of the torque set at the position P1, the torque set 11 at the position P2, and the torque set at the position PON 12 Therefore, a lens -operating ring decreases in weight as a lens 13 is moved at a lower speed and it is possible to manually rotate 14 the lens-operating ring even while an automatic operation switch is operated.

16 To solve the above third problem, still another aspect 17 of the present invention comprises not only the above lens 18 barrel, lens-operating ring, electric motor, and clutch 19 mechanism but also a temperature sensor for measuring an environmental temperature and clutch control means f or securing 21 stable rotation of the lens-operating ring by changing 22 friction-face pressures of the clutch mechanism 23 correspondingly to a temperature detected by the temperature 24 sensor.

1 According to the above still another aspect of the present 2 invention, the environmental temperature detected by the 3 temperature sensor is supplied to the clutch control means 4 (CPU) and the control means compensates a clutch position of 5 the clutch mechanism when temperature is out of the range of 6 ordinary temperature. For example, in a low-temperature 7 environment, the control means compensates the 8 automatic -operation -ON position PON under the connected state 9 of the clutch mechanism so that a friction-face pressure (generated torque) increases and the automatic -operation -OFF 11 clutch position POFF SO that the f rj-ction f ace pressure decreases 12 Therefore, even in an environment out of the range of ordinary 13 temperature, stable manual operability and automatic 14 operations same as those at ordinary temperature are maintained.

16 17 18 FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical 19 configuration of a manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel of a first embodiment of the present invention; 21 FIG. 2 is a mechanical conf i-guration f or changing manual 22 and automatic operations of a manual and automatic apparatus 23 for a lens barrel of an embodiment; 24 FIG. 3 is a top view showing the general configuration of a lens barrel of an embodiment; 1 FIG. 4 is a front view of the 1 ens barrel in FIG. 3; 2 FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the lens barrel in FIG. 3; 3 FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing control operations executed 4 by a CPU of the first embodiment; FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical 6 configuration of a manual and automatic apparatus for a lens 7 barrel of a second embodiment of the present invention; 8 FIG. 8 (A) is an illustration showing clutch positions f or 9 simply connecting or disconnecting a clutch mechanism in the second embodiment; 11 FIG. 8 (B) is an illustration showing clutch positions and 12 generated torque set in accordance with a driving speed in 13 the second embodiment; 14 FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing control operations executed by a CPU of the second embodiment; 16 FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical 17 configuration of a manual and automatic apparatus for a lens 18 barrel of a third embodiment of the present invention; 19 FIG. 11 is a graph showing the control of clutch positions corresponding to temperature change under automatic operation 21 ON in the third embodiment; 22 FIG. 12 is a graph showing the control of clutch positions 23 corresponding to temperature change under automatic operation 24 OFF in the third embodiment; 13 1 FIGS. 13 (A) is an illustration showing set clutchpositions 2 at ordinary temperature in the third embodiment; 3 FIG. 13 (B) is an illustration showing set clutch positions 4 at a low temperature in the third embodiment; FIG. 13 (C) is an illustration showing set clutch positions 6 at a high temperature in the third embodiment; and 7 FIG. 14 is a f low chart showing control operations executed 8 by a CPU of the third embodiment.

9 FIGS. 15 (A) and 15 (B) illustrates the structure of a lens barrel permitting switching between manual and electric 11 operating modes according to the prior art.

12 13 14 First, the general configuration of the lens barrel of 16 the embodiment will be described below by referring to FIGS.

17 3 to 5. Though a front-end hood is omitted in the case of the 18 illustrated lens barrel 10, it is connected to a camera body 19 by a rear-end joint 12. Moreover, a f ocus ring 13 and a zooming ring (both serve as lens-operating rings) 14 are set to the 21 periphery of the lens barrel 10 so as to be manually rotatable 22 and external teeth 15 for automatic driving are formed on the 23 periphery of the zooming ring 14.

24 Furthermore, a zoom switch 18 for zooming and an adjusting dial (or preset switch) 19 f or variably setting operation torque, 14 - 1 and a return switch 20 are set to a holding portion 17 set 2 to the periphery of the lens barrel 10. The zoom switch 18 3 is configured of a seesaw switch which is set to the telescopic 4 (expanding) direction and wide angle (contracting) direction 5 and whose both ends move upward and downward like a seesaw 6 and set so that a change speed rises in accordance with a pressed 7 depth. The adjusting dial 19 adjusts the pressure on the 8 friction face of a clutch mechanism by a variable resistor 9 as described later.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, a zoom control connector 11 22, f ocus control connector 23, and serial-interf ace connector 12 24 to which remote-control cables are connected are set below 13 the holding portion 17 and a mode change switch 26 f or changing 14 the automatic manual and- automatic -operation change mode and the manual-operation (single) mode is set to the center of 16 the holding portion next to the connector 24. As shown in FIG.

17 4, it is also permitted to set, instead of the mode change 18 switch 2 6, a mode change switch 2 6F conf igured of a slide switch 19 to the f ront of the holding portion 17. Moreover, the mechanism for automatic operation and a clutch mechanism f or changing 21 automatic and manual operations shown in FIG. 2 are set to 22 the holding portion 17.

23 In FIG. 2, a clutch mechanism is set to a body ring 28 24 of the lens barrel 10 through a support member 30. That is, a main shaft 31 is fixed to the upper portion of the support 1 member 30 a nd a discoid movable plate (gear moving plate which 2 moves in the shaf t direction) 32 and a f ixed plate (gear f ixing 3 plate which is fixed in the shaft direction) 33 are set so 4 as to be rotatable along the periphery of the main shaft 31.

External teeth 32G and 33G are formed on peripheries of the 6 movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 and have functions of a 7 clutch plate and a gear. External teeth 15 of the zooming ring 8 14 engage with the external teeth 32G of the movable plate 9 32.

As illustrated, in the case of the movable plate 32 and 11 f ixed plate 33 functioning as clutch plates, a circular groove 12 (friction face) H having a tapered side f ace is f ormed on the 13 movable plate 32 and f itted to the circular groove H andmoreover, 14 a f itting protrusion (friction f ace) I having a tapered face is formed on the fixed plate 33. A first thrust bearing 35 16 is set to the movable plate 32 through a coil spring 34 and 17 the movable plate 32 is energized toward the f ixed plate 33 18 by the coil spring 34. Therefore, clutch connection is achieved 19 by the contact (friction) between the circular groove H and fitting protrusion I and the energizing pressure of the coil 21 spring 34.

22 Moreover, a disk 35A of the first thrust bearing 35 at 23 the coil-spring contact side (rear side) is rotatable along 24 the periphery of the main shaft 31. However, another front disk 35B is fixed on a moving gear 36.The disk 35B and a gear - 16 1 36 are screwed to a threaded portion 31A formed at the front 2 of the main shaft 31. Therefore, the disk 35A, coil spring 3 34, and movable plate 32 rotate independently of the moving 4 gear 36 and function as a disconnection-time rotational mechanism for rotating the movable plate 32 separately from 6 the fixed plate 33 under manual operation.

7 Moreover, a second thrust bearing 38 is set to the fixed 8 plate 33. In the case of the bearing 38, a rear disk 38A is 9 f ixed to the main shaf t 31 and a f ront disk 38B rotates together with the fixed plate 33. Furthermore, a shaft gear 41 of a 11 zoom motor 40 engages with the external teeth 33G of the f Ixed 12 plate33. Therefore, the torque of the zoom motor 40 is supplied 13 to the zooming ring 14 through the shaft gear 41, fixed-plate 14 external teeth 33G, movable-plate external teeth 32G, and external teeth 15 with the movable plate 32 being connected 16 to the fixed plate 33.

17 Moreover, a clutch- operating motor 42 for operating the 18 clutch mechanism is set and a shaft gear 43 of the motor 42 19 is engaged with the moving gear 36 at the first thrust bearing- 35 side. Therefore, by rotating the clutch- operating motor 42 21 in a predetermined direction, it is possible to rotate the 22 moving gear 36 and move the gear 36 backward and press the 23 movable plate 32 against the fixed plate 33. Moreover, by 24 rotating the motor 42 in the opposite direction, it is possible to separate the movable plate 32 from the fixed plate 33.

17 1 Furthermore, a potentiometer 4 6 is connected to the shaft gear 2 43 of the clutch-operating motor 42 through a gear 45. The 3 potentiometer 46 detects the rotating state (clutch position) 4 of the moving gear 36 at the first thrust bearing-35 side, 5 that is, the pressing state of the movable plate 32.

6 According to the configuration in FIG. 2, the moving gear 7 36 screwed to the main shaft 31 is moved backward by the 8 clutch- operating motor 42, the movable plate 32 is strongly 9 pressed against the fixed plate 33 through the coil spring 10 34, and the clutch mechanism is connected. Thereby, the 11 rotation of the zoom motor 40 is transmitted to the zooming 12 ring 14 through the gear 41, f ixed-plate external teeth 33G, 13 and movable- plate external teeth 32G. That is, in the 14 telescopic direction or wide angle direction operated by the 15 zoom switch 18, the zoom motor 4 0 rotates at a speed corresponding 16 to a pressed depth (pressed distance) and thereby, zooming 17 for enlargement or contraction is performed. Moreover, when 18 the moving gear 36 is moved f orward by the clutch- operating 19 motor 42, the energizing f orce of the coil spring 34 is decreased, 20 the pressure of the movable plate 32 against the fixed plate 21 33 is decreased, and as a result, the clutch mechanism is 22 disconnected.

23 Then, in the case of this embodiment, rotational positions 24 (clutch positions) of the moving gear 36 are changed by the clutch- operating motor 42 and the pressure (friction force) 18 - 1 of the movable plate 32 against the fixed plate 33 through 2 the coil spring 34 is adjusted. Thereby, it is possible to 3 change manual operation torques of the zooming ring 14. That 4 is, by keeping the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 so they contact each other at a low pressure without completely 6 separating them f rom. each other even when the clutch mechanism 7 is disconnected and changing energizing forces of the coil 8 spring 34 under the above state, it is possible to optionally 9 set a manual operation torque.

FIG. 1 shows an electrical configuration of the first 11 embodiment, in which the zoom switch 18 at the left of FIG.

12 1 is connected to a CPU 50 through anA/D converter 49. Asignal 13 of the mode change switch 26 (26F) and set voltage Va of a 14 variable resistor (electronic dial for digital processing can also be used) of the adjusting dial 19 are input to the CPU 16 50 through an A/D converter 51 and a ROM 52 storing the data 17 necessary for control operations is connected to the CPU 50.

18 Moreover, an output control signal of the CPU 50 is supplied 19 to the zoom motor 40 through a D/A converter 54 and a power amplifier 55 and the zoom motor 40 drives the zooming ring 21 14 through the above fixed plate 33 and movable plate 32.

22 Moreover, the output control signal of the CPU 50 is 23 supplied to the clutch-operating motor 42 through a D/A 24 converter 5 6 and a power amplifier 5 7 and the clutch- operating motor 42 operates a clutch mechanism in accordance with an 19 - 1 operation of the zoom switch 18 to change manual and automatic 2 operations. Moreover, an output of the potentiometer 46 for 3 detecting a clutch position (pressed state) of the movable 4 plate 32 of the clutch mechanism is input to the CPU 50 through an A/D converter 58.

6 According to the above configuration, the automatic 7 manual-and-automatic-operation change mode and the 8 manual -operation mode are changed by the mode change switch 9 26. When the automatic manual- and- automatic -operation change ILO mode is selected, the CPU 50 inputting an operation signal 11 of the zoom switch 18 presses the movable plate 32 against 12 the f Ixed plate 33 by the clutch- operating motor 42 to connect 13 a clutch. At the same time, the CPU 50 moves the zooming ring 14 14 by the zoom motor 40 through the fixed plate 33, movable plate 32, and external teeth 15 and moves a zoom lens in the 16 telescopic direction or wide angle direction at a speed 17 corresponding to a pressed distance of the zoom switch 18.

18 Moreover, when the manual -operation mode is selected, the CPU 19 50 sets the movable plate 32 to a manual clutch position and even when an operation signal is output from the zoom switch 21 18, stops zooming.

22 Moreover, clutch positions of the movable plate 32 are 23 changed in the manual-operation mode in accordance with the 24 voltage Va set by the adjusting dial 19 and the operation torque of the zooming ring 14 can be freely set by the dial 19.

1 The first embodiment comprises the above configuration 2 and the CPU 50 in FIG. 1 executes the operations in FIG. 6.

3 In FIG. 6, initialization is executed in Step 101, and automatic 4 and manual clutch-position data, that is, automatic-operation-ON position data and 6 automatic- operation -OFF position data are read out of the ROM 7 52. In the next Step 102, it is determined whether the mode 8 change switch 26 (26F) is turned on (automatic 9 manual-and-automatic-operation change mode) or turned off (manual- operation mode). When the switch 26 is turned on, it 11 is determined in Step 103 whether the zoom switch 18 is operated.

12 In Step 103, when a determined result is "YES, " Step 104 13 is started because automatic operation is performed, a 14 driving-clutch position is set to automatic-operation-ON position data, zoom control data corresponding to a pressed 16 distance of the zoom switch 18 is output to the D/A converter 17 54 in Step 106, and clutch control data is output to the D/A 18 converter 56 in Step 107. Then, the clutch-operating motor 19 42 operates, the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 of the 20 clutch mechanism are connected to each other by the pressure, 21 and the zoom lens is automatically driven in accordance with 22 the operational direction and pressed distance of the zoom 23 switch 18 by the zoom motor 40. 24 When a determined result is "NO" in the above Step 103, Step 105 is

started because manual operation is ready to set i a clutch position to the automatic -operation -OFF position data. 2 In this case, the pressure-of the movable plate 32 against 3 the fixed plate 33 is decreased by the clutch- operating motor 4 42, the plate 32 is disconnected from the plate 33, and manual 5 operation is ready.

6 However, when it is detected that the mode change switch 7 26 is turned off in the above Step 102, a clutch position is 8 set to the automatic -operation -OFF position data in Step 108 9 because the manual- operation mode is selected and zoom control data is set to "stop" in Step 109. Therefore, in this case, 11 even if the clutch mechanism is disconnected in Step 10 7, manual 12 operation is ready, and the zoom switch 18 is operated, stop 13 data is set as zoom control data in Step 106 and therefore, 14 the zoom motor 40 does not operate.

Moreover, in the clutch mechanism disconnected state set 16 by the manual-operation mode, the movable plate 32 is not 17 completely separated from the fixed plate 33 but it is pressed 18 by the spring 34 at a small energizing force. In the case of 19 the f irst embodiment, by adjusting the friction-f ace pressure, 20 manual operation torques can be changed. That is, a clutch 21 position equivalent to a rotation angle of the clutch - operating 22 motor 42 can be adjusted by the position control voltage Va 23 set by the adjusting dial 19. Therefore, by making the pressure 24 of the movable plate 32 against the fixed plate 33 smaller 25 than the standard value, the operation torque decreases.

1 However, by making the pressure larger than the standard value, 2 the operation torque increases.

3 As described above, according to the conf igurati-on of the 4 first embodiment, the automatic manual-and-automatic-operation change mode and the 6 manual- operation mode for enabling only manual operation are 7 changed by a changeover switch. Therefore, it is prevented 8 to unexpectedly move a lens under manual operation by an 9 apparatus not requiring the change of manual and automatic operations and stable manual operation can be performed.

11 Moreover, there is an advantage that manual operation torques 12 can be freely changed by operation-torque change means.

13 14 The general configuration and main mechanical configuration of the lens barrel of the second embodiment is 16 the same as those in FIGS. 2 to 5. That is, when pressing a 17 zoom switch 18 in FIG., 3, a moving gear 36 screwed to a main 18 shaft 31 is moved backward by a clutch- operating motor 42 and 19 thereby, a movable plate 32 is strongly pressed against a f ixed plate 33 through a coil spring 34, and a clutch mechanism is 21 connected as shown in FIG. 2. Thereby, rotation of a zoom motor 22 40 is transmitted to a zooming ring 14 through a gear 41, 23 f ixed-plate external teeth 33G, movable-plate external teeth 24 32G, and external teeth 15. That is, in the telescopic (expanding) direction or wide angle (contracting) direction 1 operated by a zoom switch 18, the zoom motor 40 rotates at 2 a speed corresponding to a pressed depth (pressed distance) 3 and thereby, enlargement or contraction zooming is performed. 4 However, when canceling the pressed state of the zoom switch 5 18, the moving gear 36 is moved f orward by the clutch- operating 6 motor 42 and the energizing force of the coil spring 34 is 7 decreased, the pressure of the movable plate 32 against the 8 f ixed plate 33 decreases, and as a result, the clutch mechanism 9 is disconnected.

Then, in the case of the second embodiment, manual 11 operation torques of the zooming ring 14 supplied by the clutch 12 mechanism when connected are changed correspondingly to a 13 control input (depth) of a zoom switch 118 by changing rotational 14 positions (clutch positions) of the moving gear 36 by a CPU 15 to be described later and adjusting the pressure (friction 16 f orce) of the movable plate 32 against the f ixed plate 33 through 17 the coil spring 34.

18 FIG. 7 shows an electrical conf i-guration of the apparatus 19 of the second embodiment. The zoom switch 118 at the left of FIG. 7 outputs a voltage Va between reference voltages Vl and 21 V2 by assuming an intermediate position under seesaw operation 22 as 0 in a variable resistor 143. Enlarging or contracting 23 direction of zoom and its driving speed are controlled in 24 accordance with the magnitude of the voltage Va. A CPU 150 25 including torque control means is connected to the zoom switch 24 - 1 118 through the A/D converter 49 and a ROM 152 storing the 2 data necessary for control operations is connected to the CPU 3 150. Moreover, an output control signal of the CPU 150 is 4 supplied to the zoom motor 40 through a D/A converter 54 and 5 a power amplifier 55 and the zoom motor 40 drives the zooming 6 ring 14 through the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33.

7 Moreover, the output control signal of the CPU 150 is also 8 supplied to the clutch-operating motor 42 through the D/A 9 converter 56 and power amplifier 57. The clutch-operating 10 motor 42 operates a clutch mechanism in accordance with the 11 operation of the zoom switch 118 to change manual and automatic 12 operations. Moreover, an output of the potentiometer 46 for 13 detecting a clutch position (pressed state) of the movable 14 plate 32 of the clutch mechanism is input to the CPU 150 through 15 the A/D converter 58.

16 Then, the CPU 150 variably controls the clutch position 17 correspondingly to a control input (depth) of the zoom switch 18 18, that is, a driving speed (the voltage showing the control 19 input corresponds to the driving speed one-to-one) and stepwise changes torques generated when the clutch mechanism is 21 connected. That is, FIG. 8(A) shows the control of clutch 22 positions when they are not variably controlled, unlike the 23 case of the present invention. When it is assumed that a moving 24 range of the clutch- operating motor 42 (or moving gear 36) 25 ranges between clutch positions P0 (e. g. pressure 0) and PE I (maximum pressure), the clutch-mechanism disconnecting 2 position is set to the automatic -operation -OFF position POFF 3 and the clutch-mechanism connecting position is set to the 4 automatic - operation- ON position PON. Theref ore, in this case, 5 the clutch position is moved to the automatic-operation-ON 6 position PON by the clutch- operating motor 42 when the zoom 7 switch 18 is operated and returned to the 8 automatic-operation-OFF position POFF when the zoom switch 18 9 is not operated.

In the case of the second embodiment, however, as shown 1-1 in FIG. 8 (B), a clutch position is set to the position P, when 12 the control input in enlarging and contracting directions of 13 the zoom switch 18 (voltage for detecting pressed distance 14 corresponding to driving speed) is less than 60% of the maximum control input, the position P2 (PI<P2) when it ranges between 16 60 and 80% of the maximum control input, and the 17 completelyconnected position PON when it exceeds 80% of the 18 control input. Moreover, the torque of the clutch mechanism 19 thereby generated (load due to friction-f ace pressure to be 20 added as operation torque of zooming ring 14) shows a torque 21 T, at the position P, and a torque T2 (three stages) at the 22 position P2 to the torque TON at the completelyconnected 23 position PON as indicated by a curved line g. Thus, generated 24 torque T lowers as a control input (driving speed) decreases. 25 It is permitted to set clutch positions at four or five stages 26 1 or to continuously change the clutch positions in accordance 2 with a control input.

3 In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8(B), 4 a torque TOFF smaller than the case of the automatic -operation -OFF position POFF is generated. Therefore, 6 it is possible to set the manual operation torque of the zooming 7 ring 14 at the time of automatic operation OFF to an optional 8 value by changing the torque TOFF by the above adjusting dial 9 19. That is, by keeping the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 so that they contact each other at a low pressure without 11 completely separating them from each other even when the clutch 12 mechanism is disconnected and changing energizing f orces (loads 13 due to friction-face pressure) of the coil spring 34 under 14 the above state, it is possible to f reely change manual operation torques at the time of original manual setting.

16 The second embodiment is configured as described above 17 and the CPU 150 in FIG. 7 executes the operations in FIG. 9.

18 In FIG. 9, initialization is performed in Step 201 and the 19 data for the above automatic-operation-ON position PON, automatic -operation -OFF position POFF, position P1, and 21 position P2 serving as clutch-position data are read out of 22 the ROM 152. In the next Step 202, it is determined whether 23 the zoom switch 18 is operated. In this case, when a determined 24 result is "YES, " automatic operation is performed. Theref ore, 1 Step 203 is started to determine whether the control input 2 is less than 60%.

3 In Step 203, when a determined result is "YES, " a clutch 4 position is set to the data for the position P, in Step 204 to execute clutch driving in Step 205. That is, the 6 clutch- operating motor 42 operates, the movable plate 32 and 7 fixed plate 33 of the clutch mechanism are connected to each 8 other to generate the torque T1, and the zoom motor 40 operates 9 to automatically drive a zoom lens in the enlarging or contracting direction in accordance with the operational 11 direction and pressed distance of the zoom switch 18.

12 Moreover, when a determined result is "MO" in Step 203, 13 Step 206 is started to determine whether the control input 14 is less than 80%. When a determined result is "YES," a clutch position is set to the data f or the position P2 in Step 207.

16 In this case, the torque T2 slightly larger than the torque 17 T, is generated because the clutch mechanism is connected.

18 However, when compared to the case of complete connection, 19 the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 are connected to each other at a small connection force. Therefore, when the control 21 input of the zoom switch 18 is small, it is possible to rotate 22 the zooming ring 14 through manual operations at operation 23 torques T, and T2 even when the ring 14 is automatically driven 24 by the zoom motor 40.

28 - 1 Then, when a determin ed result is "NO" in Step 206, a clutch 2 position is set to the automatic -operation -ON position PON in 3 Step 208. In this case, the clutch mechanism is completely 4 connected (torque TON), the rotation of the zoom motor 40 is transmitted to the zooming ring 14 through the movable plate 6 32 and fixed plate 33, and thereby a zoom lens is driven.

7 However, when a determined result is "NO" in Step 202, 8 Step 209 is started because manual operation is ready when 9 the operation of the zoom switch 18 is canceled to set a clutch position to the data for the automatic -operation -OFF position 11 POFF. In this case, the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 12 are disconnected from each other due to the driving operation 13 in Step 205. However, an operation torque TOFF is generated 14 because of a slight contact between the plates 32 and 33 due to the energizing force of the spring 34 and original manual 16 operation can be performed by the operation torque TOFF 17 Moreover, the apparatus of this embodiment can be provided 18 with an auto cruise function (constant-speed zoom function) 19 for keeping a lens-driving speed constant. Also in the case of the auto cruise function, the above three-stage clutch 21 positions PON, P1, and P2 (or continuous position) are set 22 correspondingly to a driving speed selected by the zoom switch 23 18. Therefore, under the constant -speed zooming set to a speed 24 less than 804 of the maximum speed, it is possible to manually move the zooming ring 14.

29 - 1 As described above, according to the second embodiment, 2 a torque control means for changing connection forces of the 3 clutch mechanism in accordance with a driving speed set by 4 the automatic operation switch to control the operation torque of the lens-operating ring so that the torque decreases as 6 the driving speed lowers. Therefore, manual operation can be 7 performed when the driving speed is low even under automatic 8 operation and camera work can be quickly performed without 9 missing a photographing opportunity.

11 FIGS. 10 to 12 show a conf 1guration of a manual and-automatic 12 apparatus for a lens barrel of the third embodiment and the 13 general configuration and main mechanical configuration of 14 the third embodiment are the same as those in FIGS. 2 to 5.

That is, a focus ring 13 and a zooming ring 14 are set to the 16 periphery of a lens barrel 10 so as to be manually rotatable 17 and external teeth 15 for automatic driving are formed on the 18 periphery of the zooming ring 14.

19 Moreover, a zoom switch 18 configured of a seesaw switch and an adjusting dial 19 for variably setting the operation 21 torque at the time of manual setting are set to a holding portion 22 17 arranged on the periphery of the lens barrel 10.

23 As shown in FIG. 2, a movable plate 32 to be rotatable 24 on the periphery of a main shaf t 25, f ixed plate 33, coil spring 34, first thrust bearing 35, moving gear 36, and second thrust - 1 bearing 38 are set as a clutch mechanism and the zooming ring 2 14 engages with the movable plate 32. Then, the movable plate 3 32 is energized by the coil spring 34 and thereby, clutch 4 connection is performed. Moreover, a disk 35A of the first thrust bearing 35, the coil spring 34, and the movable plate 6 32 rotate independently of the moving gear 36 to function as 7 a disconnection-time rotational mechanism for rotating the 8 movable plate 32 separately f rom the f ixed plate 33 under manual 9 operation.

Furthermore, a front disk 38B of the second thrust bearIng 11 38 is fixed to the fixed plate 33 and a shaft gear 41 of the 12 zoom motor 40 engages with external teeth 33G of the fixed 13 plate33. Therefore, the torque of the zoom motor 40 is supplied 14 to the zooming ring 14 through the shaf t gear 4 1, f ixed-plate external teeth 33G, movable-plate external teeth 32G, and 16 external teeth 15.

17 Furthermore, a clutch- operating motor 42 for operating 18 the clutch mechanism is set and a shaf t gear 43 of the motor 19 42 is engaged with the moving gear 36 at the first thrust bearing-35 side. Then, a potentiometer 46 is connected to the 21 shaft gear 43 of the clutchoperating motor 42 through a gear 22 45, which detects a rotating state (clutch position) of the 23 moving gear 36 at the first thrust bearing-35 side, that is, 24 a pressed state of the movable plate 32.

31 - 1 According to the above configuration, when the moving gear 2 36 is moved backward by the clutch- operating motor 42 and the 3 movable plate 32 is strongly pressed against the f ixed plate 4 33 through the coil spring 34, the clutch mechanism is connected.

In this case, the rotation of the zoom motor 40 is transmitted 6 to the zooming ring 14. Moreover, when the moving gear 36 is 7 moved forward by the clutch -operating motor 42, the pressure 8 of the movable plate 32 against the f ixed plate 33 decreases 9 and as a result, the clutch mechanism is disconnected and manual operation is ready.

11 Moreover, at the time of the manual operation setting, 12 a clutch position is adjusted by the adjusting dial 19 and 13 the manual operation torque of the zooming ring 14 can be 14 optionally set at the time of automatic operation OFF. That is, manual operation torques can be freely changed by keeping 16 the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 33 so that they contact 17 each other at a low pressure without completely separating 18 them from each other even when the clutch mechanism is 19 disconnected and changing energizing forces (friction-face pressures) of the coil spring 34 by the adjusting dial 19 under 21 the above state.

22 Furthermore, in the case of this embodiment, by changing 23 rotational positions (clutch positions) of the moving gear 24 36 by a CPU determining an environmental temperature to be mentioned later and adjusting the friction-f ace pressure of I I the movable plate 32 against the fixed plate 33 through the 2 coil spring 34, torques f or driving the zooming ring 14 are 3 changed when clutch mechanism is connected and operation 4 torques (loads to be added) of the zooming ring 14 are changed when the clutch mechanism is disconnected.

6 FIG. 10 shows an electrical configuration of the third 7 embodiment. The illustrated zoom switch 18 is connected to 8 a CPU 250 including clutch controlmeans through anA/D converter 9 49 and a ROM 252 storing the clutch-position compensation data corresponding to air temperature and the data necessary for 11 control operations is connected to the CPU 250. Moreover, as 12 described f or the first and second embodiments, the CPU 250 13 controls the zoom motor 40 and clutch motor 42 in accordance 14 with an input of the potentiometer 46 for detecting a clutch position.

16 Then, a temperature sensor 253 for measuring an 17 environmental temperature (air temperature) is set to a circuit 18 board or the like and an output of the temperature sensor 253 19 is input to the CPU 250. The CPU 250 variably controls a clutch position in accordance with a temperature detected by the 21 temperature sensor 253 and sets a friction-face pressure so 22 that it decreases as temperature rises under automatic 23 operation and increases as temperature rises under manual 24 operation. That is, FIG. 11 shows the control of clutch positions under automatic operation ON, in which a clutch 33 1 position is set to a position P30 f or obtaining an optimum driving 2 torque in ordinary temperature range G including a temperature 3 250C but positions P31, P32, P33, and P34 are set so that friction 4 pressure (connection force) stepwise rises as air temperature 5 lowers and positions P29, P28, and P27 are set so that friction 6 pressure stepwise lowers as air temperature rises.

7 FIG. 12 shows the control of clutch positions under 8 automatic operation OFF, in which a clutch position is set 9 to a position P10 for obtaInIng an optimum operation torque in ordinary temperature range G Including a temperature 250C 11 but positions P9, P8, P7, and P6- are set so that f riction pressure 12 stepwise lowers as air temperature lowers and positions P11, 13 P12, and P13 are set so that friction pressure stepwise rises 14 as air temperature rises. Moreover, continuous control is permitted instead of the above stepwise control like control 16 lines C1.1, C12, C21, and C22 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

17 FIGS. 13 (A) to 13 (C) show the control of clutch positions 18 at ordinary temperature, low temperature, or high temperature.

19 As shown in FIG. 13(A), when assuming that the moving range of the clutch- operating motor 42 (or moving gear 36) is kept 21 between clutch positions P0 (e. g. pressure of 0) and PE (Maximum 22 friction-face pressure), a clutch-mechanism disconnecting 23 position is set to position P10 (automatic -operation -OFF 24 position) and a clutch -mechanism connecting position is set 25 to P30 (automatic - operatIon-ON position) at ordinary 34 1 temperature. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 13(B), at a low 2 temperature such as -50C, the disconnecting position is 3 compensated to PB (automatic -operation -OFF position) and the 4 connecting position is compensated to P32 (automatic-operation-ON position). That is, at a low 6 temperature, friction-f ace pressure under automatic operation 7 increases compared to the case of ordinary temperature.

8 Therefore, the automatic- driving torque of the zooming ring 9 14 is increased but friction pressure under manual operation 10 decreases. Therefore, the operation torque (additional 11 torque) of the zooming ring 14 is decreased.

12 Moreover, as shown in FIG. 13(C), the disconnecting 13 position is compensated to P12 (automatic - operation -OFF 14 position), the connecting position is compensated to P28 (automatic -operation -ON position) at a high temperature, and 16 the friction-f ace pressure under automatic operation decreases 17 compared to the case of ordinary temperature. Therefore, the 18 automatic -driving torque of the zooming ring 14 is decreased. 19 However, because the friction-face pressure under manual operation increases, the operation torque of the zooming ring 21 14 is increased. As described above, in the case of this 22 embodiment, it is possible to optionally set the operation 23 torque of the zooming ring 14 at the time of manual setting 24 by operating the adjusting dial 19. However, the operation 25 torque is adjusted by adding or subtracting an adjustment value 1 on the basis of the above clutch-position compensating position 2 according to air temperature.

3 The third embodiment comprises the above configuration 4 and the CPU 250 in FIG. 10 executes the operations in FIG.

14. In FIG. 14, initialization is performed in Step 301 and 6 the data for the automatic-operation-ON position P30 and 7 automatic-operation-OFF position P10 serving as 8 clutch-position data at ordinary temperature are read out of 9 the ROM 46. In the next Step 302, it is determined whether the zoom switch 18 is operated. When a determined result is 11 "YES, " Step 303 is started to set the- automatic - operatlon-ON 12 clutch position PON to the data f or P30 because automatic 13 operation is currently performed.

14 However, when a determined result is "NO" in Step 302, the automatic -operation -OFF clutch position POFF is set to the 16 data for the position P10 in Step 304 because manual operation 17 is ready. In the next Step 305, it is determined whether timer 18 interrupt occurs at a certain time interval. When a determined 19 result is "YES, " air temperature is detected by the temperature sensor 253 in Step 306 and Step 307 is started. In Step 307, 21 automatic- operation -ON- and-OFF compensated clutch positions 22 corresponding to air temperature are read and the clutch 23 positions PON and POFF are updated in the next Step 308. That 24 is, when air temperature is kept in the ordinary- temperature range, clutch positions are not updated. However, when air - 36 1 temperature is, for example, - 50C, PON=P32 and POFF=P8 are updated 2 as shown in FIG. 13(B).

3 Then, in the next Step 309, clutch driving is executed 4 and the clutchoperating motor 42 rotates up to the above clutch positions. When air temperature is kept in the 6 ordinary- temperature range, the motor 42 is rotated up to the 7 clutch position P30 when the zoom switch 18 is operated and 8 rotated up to t he clutch position P10 when the switch 18 is 9 not operated. In this case, the zooming ring 14 is driven at an optimum driving torque in accordance with the pressure of 11 the friction face between the movable plate 32 and fixed plate 12 33 when automatic operation is performed and an optimum 13 operation torque is supplied to the zooming ring 14 when manual 14 operation is performed.

When air temperature is -50C as described above, however, 16 the pressure of the friction face between the movable plate 17 32 and f ixed plate 33 increases compared to the case of ordinary 18 temperature due to rotation to the compensated clutch position 19 P32 under automatic operation as shown in FIG. 13 (B) and thereby, the zooming ring 14 is rotated at a high driving torque for 21 compensating a value equivalent to an increase in weight due 22 to a fall of air temperature. Therefore, even at a low 23 temperature, a lens can be driven at the same speed as the 24 case of ordinary temperature. Moreover, the pressure of the friction face between the movable plate 3 2 and the f 1xed plate 1 33 decreases compared to the case of ordinary temperature due 2 to rotation to the compensated clutch position P8 under manual 3 operation and an operation torque f rom which a value equivalent 4 to an increase in weight due to a f all of air temperature is subtracted is supplied to the zooming ring 14. Therefore, even 6 at a low temperature, the zooming ring 14 can be manually operated 7 at the same operation torque as the case of ordinary temperature 8 and thereby, It is possible to secure stable zooming. Moreover, 9 it is possible to secure the same driving torque or operation torque even at a high temperature by generating a torque 11 compensated by a value equivalent to a decrease in weight due 12 to a rise of air temperature as shown in FIG. 13(C).

13 As described above, according to the third embodiment, 14 even when the apparatus is used at an environmental temperature out of ordinary temperature, it:Ls possible to stabilize manual 16 operability and automatic operations. That is, a constant 17 operability is obtained under manual and automatic operations.

18 For each of the above embodiments, a case Is described 19 in which the above conf Iguration is used for the zooming ring 14. However, the above configuration can also be applied to 21 the focusing ring 13.

22 23 24 25

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel, comprising: a lens barrel for holding a lens so as to be movable; 39 1 a lens-operating ring set to the periphery of the lens 2 barrel to manually move the lens; 3 an electric motor for automatically moving the lens; 4 a clutch mechanism for connecting or disconnecting the electric motor with or from the lens-operating ring; and 6 a clutch- operating motor f or connecting or disconnecting 7 the clutch mechanism.

8 2. The manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel 9 according to claim 1, wherein the lens-operating ring forms external teeth for engaging with a transmission gear for 11 transmitting the rotation of the electric motor.

12 3. The manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel 13 according to claim 1, wherein:

14 the clutch motor is driven in accordance with an operation control signal output from an automatic operation switch; and 16 the clutch mechanism is connected when the operation 17 control signal is output and disconnected when the operation 18 control signal is not output.

19 4. The manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel according to claim 1, wherein:

21 the clutch mechanism includes a gear moving plate to be 22 moved in the axis direction by the clutch motor and having 23 a gear function and a gear fixing plate connecting with the 24 gear moving plate and having a gear function, one of gears being connected to the electric-motor side and the other of - 1 the gears being connected to the external teeth of the 2 lens-operating ring; and 3 there is provided a disconnection -time rotation mechanism 4 that allows a gear connected to the external teeth of the lens-operating ring to become rotatable when the clutch 6 mechanism is disconnected.

7 5. The manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel 8 according to claim 1,further comprising operation-torque 9 change means for adjusting the pressure of the friction f ace 10 of the clutch mechanism and changing manual operation torques 11 of the lens- operating ring is included.

12 6. A manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel, 13 comprising:

14 a lens barrel for holding a lens so as to be movable; a lens-operating ring rotatably set to the periphery of 16 the lens barrel to manually move the lens; 17 an electric motor for automatically moving the lens; 18 automatic manual-and-automatic-operation change means 19 for connecting the electric motor with lens-operating ring by a clutch mechanism to perform connection or disconnection 21 of the clutch mechanism by making the connection or 22 disconnection interlock with the operation of an automatic 23 operation switch; and 24 a mode change switch for changing an automatic manual - and- automatic -operation change mode for operating the 1 automatic manual-and-automatic-operation change means and a 2 manual operation mode f or enabling only manual operation by 3 disconnecting the clutch mechanism.

4 7. A manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel, comprising:

6 a lens barrel for holding a lens so as to be movable; 7 a lens-operating ring rotatably set to the periphery of 8 the lens barrel to manually move the lens; 9 an electric motor for automatically moving the lens; a clutch mechanism f or connecting or disconnecting the 11 electric motor with or from the lens-operating ring; 12 an automatic operation switch for automatically driving 13 the lens-operating ring through the clutch mechanism and 14 setting a lens-operating-ring driving speed; and torque control means for changing connection forces of 16 the clutch mechanism in accordance with the driving speed set 17 by the automatic operation switch to control the 18 lens-operating-ring operation torque so that the torque 19 decreases as driving speed lowers.

8. The manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel 21 according to claim 7, further comprising a constant-speed 22 zooming function for keeping a lens-driving speed constant 23 is included.

24 9. A manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel, comprising:

42 - 1 a lens barrel for holding a lens so as to be movable; 2 a lens-operating ring rotatably set to the periphery of 3 the lens barrel to manually move the lens; 4 an electric motor for automatically moving the lens; a clutch mechanism for connecting or disconnecting the 6 electric motor with or from the lens-operating ring; 7 a temperature sensor for measuring an environmental 8 temperature; and 9 clutch control means for changing friction-f ace pressures of the clutch mechanism correspondingly to a temperature 11 detected by the temperature sensor to secure stable rotation 12 of the lens-operating ring.

13 10. The manual and automatic apparatus for a lens barrel 14 according to claim 9, wherein the clutch control means sets a f rj-ction-f ace pressure so as to decrease as temperature rises 16 under automatic operation and so as to increase as temperature 17 rises under manual operation.

18